'Dear Future Husband' is a song that was released by Meghan Trainor in March 2015. It has reached almost 400 million views on YouTube since and has a deeper meaning behind it than most songs of the modern age.
There are many different aspects of the music video that separates this song from others. For example, many audio codes are used throughout the song (expectedly) and they have a great effect on the audience. The music is very upbeat and sounds like a typical song from Capital FM. However, the context behind the lyrics has a deeper meaning. Many people link the lyrics of the song with feminism because it seems to be very 'pro woman'. She follows this trend throughout the whole song where she essentially gives her demands to different guys as to what they must do in order to be her husband. She is very selective and in many ways speaks as though she is a man from the 50s. The lyrics of the music do a great job of breaking the stereotype of women that mainly existed in the 50s. Trainor sings that she "never learned to cook" and "don't be expecting any apple pies" because she "works nine to five too". The music video has a very '50s vibe ' to it and the lyrics do a good job of showing that woman are more than the stereotype of that time. She is saying that she works like men do and she has imperfections. You could say that she is singing about having perfections in other areas too. She is very assertive and demanding throughout the song and this is especially seen in the final line where she sings "future husband better love me right". This shows that woman have authority and power in cases (as do men).
More importantly, there are many visual codes in the music video that give a lot of context to what is happening. The iconography used used in the video is especially significant because there are many objects and moments that have a meaning behind them. For example, Trainor contradicts her words on purpose when she is sarcastically cleaning the floor. The use of clothing here adds context. She is wearing an apron that typically shows she is doing cooking or cleaning, but at the same time she is wearing a black leather jacket to symbolise 'rebellion'. In addition to that, she isn't actually cleaning the floor at all. She is messing around on the floor to show that she doesn't need to and that maybe she isn't exactly educated or motivated to clean. Furthermore, she isn't wearing any major sexually provocative clothing like most women in music videos do now. This shows that you don't have to dress like a slut to make a music video. Another visual representation in the music video is the men. She tries out all of the men throughout the video and is essentially trying to find one that she can choose which meets her criteria to be 'husband material'. Every man goes to an amazing amount of effort with different things such as clothing, food and showboating. However, it is the more average looking guy at the end who is dressed averagely as well that she picks. This is a great ending as it breaks the stereotype that men have to be perfect for women too.
Another visual aspect of the video is the graphics, colours and images. The video starts off with bright, vibrant colours that brings a positive mood to the song. This continues as the song has a happy, catchy beat to it and it is overall a positive song. The post-production adds graphics to the video as her potential husbands fail to satisfy her. For example, when one guy tries to impress her by doing the test of strength game with the hammer at a funfair, he does not succeed. Trainor looks uninterested and walks off much to the guy's dismay. A massive graphic saying 'FAIL' appears on the screen with a sense of attempted humour about it. This (again) shows that men are not superior to women and that women have the power of choice and selectiveness too. Another feature to video is Meghan Trainor's facial expressions and gestures. She looks like she is having fun at times like when she is 'cleaning', in other times she looks pretty calm and casual. However, all of the time she looks like she has spent a lot of time on her appearance and a lot of different product has been used. So at the same time of breaking some stereotypes about gender, the video fails to go against the stereotype of women looking 'perfect' and 'well done'.
In conclusion, the genre of the music follows an upbeat pop sounding tune, with the video possessing themes such as feminism, power and gender. Personally, I think that Trainor has attempted to break the stereotype of women and battle gender equality in a highly ironic way. She has tried to fight fire with fire and created...sexism.
There are many different aspects of the music video that separates this song from others. For example, many audio codes are used throughout the song (expectedly) and they have a great effect on the audience. The music is very upbeat and sounds like a typical song from Capital FM. However, the context behind the lyrics has a deeper meaning. Many people link the lyrics of the song with feminism because it seems to be very 'pro woman'. She follows this trend throughout the whole song where she essentially gives her demands to different guys as to what they must do in order to be her husband. She is very selective and in many ways speaks as though she is a man from the 50s. The lyrics of the music do a great job of breaking the stereotype of women that mainly existed in the 50s. Trainor sings that she "never learned to cook" and "don't be expecting any apple pies" because she "works nine to five too". The music video has a very '50s vibe ' to it and the lyrics do a good job of showing that woman are more than the stereotype of that time. She is saying that she works like men do and she has imperfections. You could say that she is singing about having perfections in other areas too. She is very assertive and demanding throughout the song and this is especially seen in the final line where she sings "future husband better love me right". This shows that woman have authority and power in cases (as do men).
More importantly, there are many visual codes in the music video that give a lot of context to what is happening. The iconography used used in the video is especially significant because there are many objects and moments that have a meaning behind them. For example, Trainor contradicts her words on purpose when she is sarcastically cleaning the floor. The use of clothing here adds context. She is wearing an apron that typically shows she is doing cooking or cleaning, but at the same time she is wearing a black leather jacket to symbolise 'rebellion'. In addition to that, she isn't actually cleaning the floor at all. She is messing around on the floor to show that she doesn't need to and that maybe she isn't exactly educated or motivated to clean. Furthermore, she isn't wearing any major sexually provocative clothing like most women in music videos do now. This shows that you don't have to dress like a slut to make a music video. Another visual representation in the music video is the men. She tries out all of the men throughout the video and is essentially trying to find one that she can choose which meets her criteria to be 'husband material'. Every man goes to an amazing amount of effort with different things such as clothing, food and showboating. However, it is the more average looking guy at the end who is dressed averagely as well that she picks. This is a great ending as it breaks the stereotype that men have to be perfect for women too.
Another visual aspect of the video is the graphics, colours and images. The video starts off with bright, vibrant colours that brings a positive mood to the song. This continues as the song has a happy, catchy beat to it and it is overall a positive song. The post-production adds graphics to the video as her potential husbands fail to satisfy her. For example, when one guy tries to impress her by doing the test of strength game with the hammer at a funfair, he does not succeed. Trainor looks uninterested and walks off much to the guy's dismay. A massive graphic saying 'FAIL' appears on the screen with a sense of attempted humour about it. This (again) shows that men are not superior to women and that women have the power of choice and selectiveness too. Another feature to video is Meghan Trainor's facial expressions and gestures. She looks like she is having fun at times like when she is 'cleaning', in other times she looks pretty calm and casual. However, all of the time she looks like she has spent a lot of time on her appearance and a lot of different product has been used. So at the same time of breaking some stereotypes about gender, the video fails to go against the stereotype of women looking 'perfect' and 'well done'.
In conclusion, the genre of the music follows an upbeat pop sounding tune, with the video possessing themes such as feminism, power and gender. Personally, I think that Trainor has attempted to break the stereotype of women and battle gender equality in a highly ironic way. She has tried to fight fire with fire and created...sexism.
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